Tuesday, October 18, 2016

The 48-year-old principal at Rock Valley Elementary School has been actively involved every step of the way since a steering committee was formed to study if there was a need to establish a community health center in northwest Iowa – a few years before Promise even opened its doors in July 2008 in downtown Sioux Center. He has been on the Promise board ever since.

For his longtime, outstanding contributions to Promise, Ortman was awarded the 2016 Carl Kulczyk Memorial Award by the Iowa Primary Care Association on Tuesday during its annual conference in Des Moines. The award was established in recognition of Kulczyk’s contributions to the Iowa PCA and the community health field prior to his death in 2008.

Don Ortman, who has served as a Promise Community HealthCenter board member during its entire history, was awardedIowa Primary Care Association's Carl Kulczyk Memorial Awardfor 2016 on Tuesday, Oct. 18, during its annual conference.

“I’m very humbled, and I’m very honored,” Ortman said during his acceptance speech.

Nancy Dykstra, executive director for Promise, said Ortman always has been a passionate advocate for Promise – recognizing that many families face challenges to accessing affordable health-care services, even as basic as students in his school dealing with head lice. She noted he has positively impacted Promise in many ways, including guiding the health center through its most challenging years as board president when it did not have any state or federal funding, organizing the inaugural celebration fundraising dinner eight years ago, delivering unexpected encouraging notes and signs to boost staff morale, and leading the early marketing efforts to spread the news of what Promise could offer families. And much more.

“Don energizes every project and group he works with,” she said. “His persona is bigger than he is, and when you meet Don, you’ll know what that means. Children love his stories; parents and adults recognize the respect for all human dignity that Don conveys. He never calls attention to himself.”

In addition to connecting families to needed primary health care and other essential services at Promise, Dykstra added that Ortman has impacted his community in many other ways. A few examples: He was one of the first to welcome immigrant families and help them find housing and essential items; he helped to lead the recovery efforts in Rock Valley after the devastating flood in 2014; he coordinates a monthly community meal.

“Don embodies the mission of community health center work,” Dykstra said. “He meets the needs of all persons in the community – wherever those persons are and whatever their situations are.”

Ortman said establishing a community health care in Sioux County was important to provide affordable and preventative care to less fortunate individuals and families and to help eliminate the barriers people have to receive the care that they need. He recognized the need to serve the growing Spanish-speaking population with translators so they could communicate with health-care providers in their own language. He noticed situations where families were being denied health care because of unpaid medical bills and where people were ending up in hospitals or emergency rooms because they weren’t receiving preventive care. In particular, he knew of a woman who could not get important preventative heart care until her 65th birthday when when she went on Medicaid. By that point, severe heart damage was already done.

Don Ortman reminisces about his years ofservice on the Promise Community HealthCenter board while accepting the IowaPrimary Care Association's 2016 CarlKulczyk Memorial Award on Tuesday.

Ortman has played an integral role in overseeing Promise’s development throughout its history. He watched Promise open with state incubator funding and later become a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-alike. He saw it gain FQHC status and receive federal funding in 2012 after navigating its leanest years. He saw Promise add various services throughout the years to its initial primary medical care, including prenatal care by midwife providers, dental care, mental health care and vision/eye care.

Ortman said the yellow tin exterior of Promise’s building doesn’t reveal the beautiful facilities and services being provided on the interior to people of all income levels – not just the less fortunate and at-risk populations that Promise targets.

“Promise took a lot of energy, time, perseverance, tears, worry and prayer in the beginning,” Ortman said. “However, the appreciation and joy observed in patients, many of whom were receiving health services for the first time in their lives, was well worth it. The staff who survived the hard times – low pay, no raises, but did their job because they felt called to serve people and especially the less fortunate – has made me very invested and proud to be a board member of Promise Community Health Center. To see Promise thriving and growing the last several years has been very fulfilling, and our patients’ stories and appreciation for Promise is very gratifying, exciting and humbling.”

In the years ahead, he hopes Promise can continue to develop its relationship with the local hospitals and clinics “because they need us and we definitely need them.” As one aspect, he hopes that eventually leads the ability of Promise’s midwives to deliver babies at a birth center or being granted delivery services at local hospitals.

“We make each other better and help each other,” he said. “We are on their team. We are not their competition. We could never compete with our outstanding hospitals and clinics.”

Ortman fondly reminisces on his many years of service on Promise’s board.

“The most rewarding thing for me is trying to live out to the best of my ability the second greatest commandment of: Love thy neighbor,” he said. “I have also been blessed with many friendships I wouldn’t have had if I was not a part of the Promise family.”

Don Ortman grew up in Battle Creek and graduated from high school there in 1987. He earned his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake in 1991. He then taught in the third and fifth grades and coached girls basketball, volleyball and track in the Griswold School District. He completed his master’s degree in school administration from Northwest Missouri State University in 1996. In 1997, he accepted the position of principal at Rock Valley Elementary School, where he has served ever since. He has received various awards, including Iowa Elementary Principal of the Year and National Distinguished Elementary Principal in 2003, Iowa Character Counts Administrator of the Year in 2005, and Iowa Reading Association Administrator of the Year in 2007. Ortman authored, “The 4th of July,” which is dedicated to the patriotic communities he has lived in.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Instead, Rod Hofmeyer of rural Alton discovered a way to provide that good food to hundreds – even thousands – of people throughout northwest Iowa.

It all started by him personally delivering small quantities of food from the former Advance Brands plant in Orange City to families more than a decade ago, but it has blossomed into a rapidly-growing ministry – Zestos – that provides food, clothing and other necessities, and housing to people who need it.

Jayne and Rod Hofmeyer of rural Alton have been consumedwith a passion of feeding the hungry and reaching out to peoplein need in northwest Iowa, establishing the Zestos ministry.For their selfless service, they have been selected as the 2016Addink Community Service Award honorees and will bepresented the honor at Promise Community Health Center'seighth annual "An Evening of Promise" on Thursday, Nov. 3,at Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center.

But Hofmeyer is the first to tell you that it wasn’t him doing anything. It was God opening the doors all along the way to give him the means to feed the hungry and care for those in need. Even the passions that drive him in his ministry were given to him by God, he said.

“I’m just a farm kid that cares, and the only reason that I care is because God put something in me that wasn’t there before,” he said. “I’m not anything special.”

But people have taken notice of his servant outlook – and that of his wife, Jayne, who has been a partner at his side in the effort throughout the years.

For their selfless service, Rod and Jayne Hofmeyer will be presented with the fifth annual Addink Community Service Award during Promise Community Health Center’s “An Evening of Promise” on Thursday, Nov. 3, at Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center. They were selected after being nominated for the honor by multiple people.Amanda Bahena, an attorney for Woods, Fuller, Shultz & Smith of Sioux Center, said she had the pleasure of working with the Hofmeyers as they walked alongside a community member dealing with legal issues.

“Rod and Jayne go beyond trying to fix immediate problems for the people they help,” she said. “They are truly concerned with resolving the underlying issues of struggling community members to try to break cycles of poverty and depression. Rod and Jayne are a gift to the community. Their compassion is evident in everything they do.”

The seeds to Zestos – which was officially incorporated as a nonprofit agency in January 2009 and now is based in Alton – were planted many years before the organization ever was formed.

Rod Hofmeyer, who was working at Advance Brands, started hauling away trailers of food items – ranging from chicken nuggets to hamburgers – given to him by the plant to feed to his hogs and cattle on his small rural Alton farm about 15 year ago. It was a win-win for both parties because the plant would have incurred the cost of landfilling food waste, which had fallen on the floor or couldn’t be used for other reasons, and he was getting free food for his animals.

But, Hofmeyer started noticing a couple of years later small quantities of finished food product that were different – food that came from damaged cases – mixed in the bulk containers of food he was receiving. He asked questions and found out nothing was wrong with the food.

“Naturally, I thought, here’s a chance for us to help some people,” Hofmeyer said.

At the consent of the plant, he started receiving that food separately. Initially, he and a few church volunteers filled freezers with the food and delivered it directly to families who would be blessed by it. But the food opportunity increased greatly when he started getting pallets of food from the plant’s test kitchen where bulk recipes were being tried out.

As the years passed, the collection of food donation has expanded to many other sources, including groceries, restaurants, warehousing facilities, processing plants and farmers who donate animals for butchering. That allowed Zestos to manage the loss of its first primary food source when Advance Brands closed in Orange City in 2012.

As food supplies increased, Hofmeyer began talking to people in churches in Orange City about establishing a community meal, which now is called The Shepherd’s Table, as an outreach to struggling people in the community. The first meal drew 70 people in 2009; the next month was double that. It has remained steady since. After the meals, the people in attendance are given grocery bags full of frozen food and bakery items from Zestos to take home.

That fellowship meal concept has spread in the years since to over a dozen communities across northwest Iowa, including Sioux Center, Rock Valley, Le Mars, Sheldon and Hawarden. Zestos still provides the bags of frozen groceries, canned goods and bakery products for people to take home at many of those community meals, but some communities have made the events entirely their own.

People also can pick up food directly from Zestos in Alton.

Food now is distributed to well of 1,000 people every month.

“Everyone puts their own name on it, and it’s theirs,” Hofmeyer said about The Shepherd’s Table meals. “They are as unique as the community that they serve. We didn’t invent the idea of food and fellowship being a thing, but something about this just stuck. The Shepherd’s Table meals have continued to spread.”

To be sure, the Zestos ministry has gone beyond meeting people’s food needs.

Rod Hofmeyer checks out the delivery of items forThe Shepherd's Closet ministry in the alley behindthe Zestos offices in Alton. Zestos also has food andtransitional housing programs as it seeks to reachpeople who have various needs in northwest Iowa.

Zestos maintains a supply of clothing, furniture and other household items that it can provide people at no cost to fill immediate needs. It also operates The Shepherd’s Closet retail outlets in the former OK Cafe in Alton and in a downtown Le Mars location. Those stores serve a dual purpose of providing a revenue stream to support the Zestos ministry and making goods available to people at affordable prices.

The Shepherd’s Fold program of Zestos provides Christ-centered transitional housing for men, women and children needing a fresh start. The program started about 10 years ago with a mobile home in Orange City, but four small apartments now are located in the former OK Cafe in Alton. Hofmeyer can tell heart-warming stories of people who have been helped, including a Mexican-American woman and her children after her husband had been deported. The family now owns its own home in Le Mars.

“Sometimes the stories aren’t so sweet, wonderful and good. But, sometimes, they just blow me away,” he said. “This one is so good. I just adore that family.”

With each ministry opportunity, Hofmeyer explained how God laid roadblocks in the way that he might not have understood at the time. Yet, each time, God later opened new and much better scenarios for them to more effectively serve people.

“God has gone ahead of us many times,” he said. “I don’t want to take it for granted, but I don’t sweat it out anymore because I know He’s going to come through.”

Most importantly, he said it was God who put the passion in his heart to serve people in need.

After high school, Hofmeyer went through a period of his life that was “pretty self-indulgent, pretty reckless and pretty irresponsible.” He ended up in Denver and later Las Vegas, where a total stranger approached him and brought him to a man who ran a ministry house. Hofmeyer had a strong distaste for him at first, but he ultimately became a mentor who helped to turn Hofmeyer’s life around.

“That time in Las Vegas for a year and a half, I really became involved in helping people,” Hofmeyer said. “That was really the first time I really cared about anything other than my own interest in any given moment in my life. That started there.”

Another "wake-up call" for him was when he experienced heart issues a few years after he and his wife, Jayne, moved from New Mexico back to his family’s farm place in rural Alton in 1992. He realized that he should not delay to act if he truly wanted to make an impact in this life.

The passion that drives him keeps motoring on – and getting stronger.

“My joy and the fullness of my life, it keeps getting better and fuller. I have no intentions of stopping. I’m going to have to stop breathing. That’s the only thing that’s going to make me quit,” Hofmeyer said with a chuckle. “It’s a desire to help.”

Rod Hofmeyer pointed to the Bible passage Revelations 3:15-16, which calls on the church in Laodicea not to be lukewarm. He said the Greek word “Zestos” means “boiling hot” and to have “a fervor of mind and zeal; to be zealous in the pursuit of good.” Therefore, the mission of Zestos is to be boiling hot, not lukewarm, in its zeal of following Jesus Christ’s call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and care for those in need.

Tickets are $40 for adults, $20 for youth ages 4-17 and free for children 3 and under. They can be purchased online at www.promiseevent2016.eventbrite.com or in person at Promise CHC, 338 1st Ave. NW, Sioux Center. For more information or to request a paper ticket form, please contact Derrick Vander Waal at 712-722-1700 Ext. 150 or derrick@promisechc.org. A ticket form also is available at this link.

The campus challenge will work slightly different. You are asked to wear pink on campus for Pink Out Days on Oct. 12, 19 and 26. Then, post selfies of yourself wearing pink those days on Facebook – using the #DCsis2sis hashtag – to raise awareness about breast cancer.

By doing so, you will be entered into a drawing to win a gift basket of Dordt memorabilia from the Dordt College Bookstore. Check out how you can gain extra entries into the drawing in the expanded description of the guidelines in the flyer to the right or at this link.

The drawing will be conducted at intermission of Dordt’s varsity volleyball game against Dakota Wesleyan on Wednesday, Oct 26. That is Dordt volleyball's official Pink Out evening conducted in partnership with Promise Community Health Center’s Sister to Sister/Hermana a Hermana program, which provides breast cancer awareness and education and free mammograms and other screenings to uninsured and under-insured women. You do not need to be present to win.

As he developed as a performer and magician, he was inspired by watching master magicians Mark Wilson and David Copper on television.

“I began to see that their magic was more than simple entertainment. It could be a way of inspiring people that anything is possible,” Hira said. “I love to show people how they have the same ability in their lives as I do as a magician. We all can strive to find ways to do things instead of reasons we can’t.”

He’s still doing that decades later at 55 years old.

Hira, who lives in Dallas, TX, and has ties to northwest Iowa, hopes to bring that same sense of inspiration to the audience at Promise Community Health Center’s eighth annual “An Evening of Promise” Celebration and Fundraiser on Thursday, Nov. 3, at Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center.

Hira has traveled the world to perform at venues ranging from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas to his most recent venture on a cruise ship departing from Rome into the Mediterranean Sea, but his performance in Sioux Center will not be just any performance. It will be extra special – a homecoming of sorts for him.

He has many fond memories of spending time as a child on the rural Rock Valley farm of his grandparents, Ted and Francis Kooima. His mom, LaVonne, grew up as one of seven children along with Lloyd, Marilyn, Linda, Lyle, Roger and Carol, so he also had various aunts, uncles and cousins living in northwest Iowa – with his family tree branching out in many directions from there in the area. In fact, his relatives established the Kooima Co. and various other businesses in the Rock Valley area.

David Hira has traveled the world during thepast few decades to entertain audiences withhis magic, but he's just as excited to return tonorthwest Iowa, a place where he has familyroots, to perform Nov. 3 for Promise CHC's"An Evening of Promise" in Sioux Center.

“I was so excited to have been contacted for this event,” Hira said. “I am thrilled to be returning to this part of the country.”

As his love for magic was revealed in junior high, Hira was lucky to have another magician in his school, David Howard, who was a year younger and had a twin sister. Their mother owned a dance studio.

“By combining forces with David, we wound up getting the support of his parents who were able to give us a lot of star power with dancers, costumes and bigger props,” he said. “It was a really fun time.”

By the eighth grade, Hira had decided that he wanted to take Johnny Carson’s place one day. Johnny, the iconic host of “The Tonight Show” for 30 years, had started out as a magician, as did many other TV celebrities. Though the job ultimately went to Jay Leno, the dream was enough to propel Hira in the right direction.

“Magic gave them all the foundation to perform in front of people, all kinds of people, and in all kinds of situations,” he said. “This experience gives us the chops to move onto bigger things. But for me? I was content to just make people laugh, wonder and to say, ‘Wow!’”

Hira was able to make money in high school and college as a magician. It was a “great perk” having people pay him to have fun, he acknowledged.

His career progressed from there.

“Like with most things, the more you do it, the better you get – the more that those who really do know what they are doing seek you out and help you,” he said. “That was the case for me. Because of the people who helped me and who wanted to see me succeed, my skills increased and allowed me to travel the world and meet people I never dreamed of meeting.”

In addition to a stage show, magician David Hira willpresent roving entertainment during the social timeof Promise Community Health Center's annual "AnEvening of Promise" on Thursday, Nov. 3, atTerrace View Event Center in Sioux Center.

Throughout the years, Hira has appeared in 44 states across America and in a host of other countries, including Puerto Rico, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Japan, Canada and Costa Rica. He has performed on cruise ships in beautiful places such as off as the coast of Alaska and in the Mediterranean Sea. Next year, he is booked for a luxurious cruise ship that leaves out of Rio De Janeiro and goes up the entire coast of South America, down the Amazon and winds up in Barbados. His wife, Angela, is excited to be accompanying him for that trip.

Hira said he’s trying to slow down but “not succeeding very well.” In 2014, he performed or was the keynote speaker at 417 events in 17 states and five countries. His goal was not to perform at more than 300 events in 2015, but he well exceeded that number.

“I can’t wait for the chance to brag to people that I performed in Sioux Center, Iowa,” he said with a grin.

One of his most rewarding gigs is as the CFO (chief fun officer) for Snowball Express. For the past six years, he has coordinated the fun for children of fallen military personnel who were serving active duty since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Each December, they bring in 2,000 children and their surviving parent to Dallas to give them a four-day Christmas that “they’ll never forget.” As the face of the event, Hira plays host and master of ceremonies for the shows that he produces for the children.

“Snowball Express is simply the hands of a grateful nation that lets these families know that this nation will never forget their hero, nor their families’ sacrifices,” he said. “I’m happy to give these families my best because each of these families gave us, their country, their very best.”

David Hira, a magician/comedianfrom Dallas, TX, will have all kindsof entertaining acts up his sleeveto reveal to the audience duringhis performance at "An Eveningof Promise" on Thursday, Nov. 3.

Before Hira arrives for any performance anywhere he goes, he has already decided that he’s going to have the time of his life and that he loves each and every person in attendance. He considers each audience member to be a work of art; therefore, walking among the guests at the event is like walking through “the most incredible art museum.”

“To be in awe of others is to honor their creator,” he added.

In fact, Hira considers the chance to be around wonderful people – people he had not yet met – to be like magic to him. He remembers that thought as he astonishes people with his magic during his performances.

“People scratch their heads, pause in disbelief, and say, ‘How is that possible?’” Hira said. “To which I turn the mirror and on each individual, each audience member, and say, ‘How are you possible?’ We are all miracles. Our existence for even a minute is impossible when you start to examine our physical beings – for our hearts to beat, for our blood to flow, for our skin to work to keep our bodies a constant temperature. And all at the same time? Impossible. As a magician, I get to have people realize that it’s not just the magicians that seemingly do the impossible. We are all impossible, and yet we exist and live and share and dream.”

As he entertains, he gives the gift of laughter.

“What is more enjoyable than getting to watch someone laugh? I mean, really laugh,” he said. “I’m fortunate to get to see people’s eyes and faces from where I stand on the stage. People think that the magic is in watching what I do. No, no, no! The magic is watching what is evoked from inside of you, the smiles and the laughter from what it is that I get to do.”

Hira also will weave his fond memories of northwest Iowa into his “An Evening of Promise” performance in Sioux Center.

“To quote Judy Garland, ‘There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home,’” he said. “Most all people love to reconnect with their roots, their good memories and the land upon with they grew up on. I’m looking forward to being restored and re-energized by returning to your corner of the world.”

David Hira and his wife, Angela, have three married children, Amy, Michael and Eric, and a 2-year-old grandson, Ezra. He is a foodie and loves to try all kinds of food adventures. His hobby is Costa Rica “in all ways.” His favorite thing to do is to encourage others in any way that he can.

WHY ATTEND HIS SHOW?

David Hira said his performance will be much more than a magic show.

“If you love to laugh, love to be reminded of how wonderful the human spirit is, if joy and astonishment and the fun of a good surprise is something that you crave, then this show is for you,” he said. “We’ll have so much fun together that those who come will leave saying, ‘Wow, now this was worth my time. I’m so glad I came.’ You’ll be amazed.”

The event, which serves as Promise’s primary fundraiser every year, will begin at 6 p.m. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.

The evening will feature:

Entertainment by David Hira, a magician and comedian from Dallas, TX;

Dinner catered by Blue Mountain Culinary Emporium of Orange City;

Presentation of the Addink Community Service Award;

Silent auction to support Promise.

Ticket sales for “An Evening of Promise” will run through Oct. 26.

Tickets are $40 for adults, $20 for youth ages 4-17 and free for children 3 and under. They can be purchased online at www.promiseevent2016.eventbrite.com or in person at Promise CHC, 338 1st Ave. NW, Sioux Center. For more information or to request a paper ticket form, please contact Derrick Vander Waal at 712-722-1700 Ext. 150 or derrick@promisechc.org. A ticket form also is available at this link.